“Gun violence issues have always been important to me,” said state Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, the bill’s sponsor. “I’ve filed gun legislation every session. I want to make it harder and harder to get guns in and get guns into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.”

Creem’s legislation, SD.1884, calls for the establishment of a grant program for municipal violence prevention programs, funded by a new 4.75 percent tax on gun and ammunition sales. Guns and ammunition are already subject to the 6.25 percent state sales tax.

The bill also calls for the adoption of personalized technology to prevent unauthorized users from firing a gun, and a ban on gun sales that aren’t performed through a licensed firearms dealer. That restriction on private sales, Creem said, would ensure that all gun buyers are subject to the national background check system.

“Some of these are just common-sense thoughts,” she said. “This is not telling people they cannot have a gun. I have great concerns over private gun sales, where we don’t utilize the national instant background check system.”

Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League, or GOAL, characterized the bill as unnecessary and misguided.

“We already pay incredible taxes on the sale of ammo in this country,” he said, referencing the state sales tax and 11 percent federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

Much of Creem’s proposal, he said, fails to address real problems.

“Has there ever been a crime committed with a .50 caliber firearm in Massachusetts? What’s the problem we’re trying to solve?” he said. “Is it political, perceived or real? It seems it’s always been political.”

A .50 caliber gun is considered among the most powerful weapons legally available to civilians in the United States and is commonly used by the military. The weapons are banned in Washington, D.C. and California. Connecticut and Maryland ban some versions of .50 caliber rifles.

“For all practical purposes, my understanding is that’s a military firearm,” Creem said. “I can’t see a credible reason why a civilian needs that kind of firearm.”

Wallace, who said .50 caliber guns are popular with some long-distance sport shooters, said he has yet to see a compelling reason to ban the weapons.

“If it’s the government talking to the citizens, then the government has to come up with substantial reasons to ban anything,” he argued. “It’s on them to prove without a shadow of a doubt that these things should not be in the hands of civilians. It’s incumbent on the government to prove its case.”

Creem’s proposal also calls for the implementation of technology such as fingerprint scanners to prevent unauthorized users from firing a gun, once the technology is commercially available — a provision GOAL stringently opposes.

“You’re putting technology that can easily fail on something that’s used to protect your life,” Wallace argued. “The easiest answer is to have the Secret Service do it first.Then let’s have the FBI, then police, then have a five-year study. Until we see those protective agencies 100 percent all in, there’s no sense in having the conversation. If they don’t buy it, I’m certainly not going to buy it.”

Firearms regulations in Massachusetts have come under heightened attention in recent months. Last summer, Attorney General Maura Healey announced her office was targeting the sale of “copycat” weapons, off-brand duplicates or variants of banned assault rifles.

“We have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that combat-style weapons are off our streets and out of the hands of those who would use them to kill innocent people,” Healey said when announcing the copycat gun initiative this summer. “Increasingly, these guns are the weapon of choice for mass shooters, and we will do everything we can to prevent the kinds of tragedies here that have occurred in places like Orlando, San Bernardino, Newtown and Aurora.”

Creem said she hopes to build off that momentum.

“I do think people really do care about gun control, or at least having sensible gun use,” she said. “I look at this as a way to still enjoy the lawful use of firearms.”

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